Fifa's Technical Study Group says audacious tactics, gifted attacking players
and intelligent players have made this one of the greatest World Cups

A report on a World Cup being hailed as one of the greatest ever will be compiled by Fifa’s Technical Study Group and presented to all national associations, including the Football Association, in September. England’s manager, Roy Hodgson, will also receive a copy.

With eight games remaining, and the World Cup record of 171 goals under threat, the TSG’s early verdict is that a combination of coaches’ “audacious” tactics, an unparalleled generation of attacking talent, and intelligent preparation has helped make Brazil 2014 so special.

“This is my ninth World Cup and this is the best one in terms of quality of football and entertainment,’’ said Gérard Houllier of the TSG. “Some games are like basketball, end to end, like Germany and Ghana and USA versus Belgium. I was struck by coaches saying, 'because we are here, let’s have a go, whatever happens’.

“You know that after a World Cup, 15 coaches minimum leave their jobs, so it’s, 'let’s have a go’. It’s the end of a four-year cycle or the results have not been good enough, so they are dismissed.

“The record of goals is 171 at France 98; we are 154 with eight games to play and with an average of 2.75 goals per game, this record could be beaten. The football gets better each tournament. There’s been the recent contribution of Spanish football, with Barcelona and the national team, and that has passed on to a lot of teams, raising the tempo and quality, and this World Cup has taken it higher.

“A lot of teams play with two strikers, sometimes three. Argentina played three up against Switzerland with Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín and Ezequiel Lavezzi. In Europe, they used to play with one lone striker and a line of three behind [like England did in Brazil; now usually they have two strikers.”

Agreement on the attacking verve came from Sunday Oliseh, another respected member of the TSG. “The group stage is about racking up points, trying to finish top,’’ said the former Nigeria captain who played in the World Cups of 1994 and 1998, “and you would have thought that in the second round teams might be more cautious, get compact and play off the errors of the other team but no no no. Everyone has come out blazing. Full-backs are coming into midfield, overlapping. In South Africa we saw the level better than 2006 and this is one is even better.”

The environment helps, the tournament staged in a football nation obsessed with attacking. “I ask myself is there this vibrancy because the World Cup is in Brazil?’’ said Houllier. “The South American teams have got an aggressive bite here which I don’t see when they travel away – teams like Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay, although with Uruguay maybe bite is not a good word to use!

“Chile are out of the competition but summarised practically everything that is needed: an audacious system, technique, good spirit, good energy, plus real desire to win.’’

Houllier ventured that the World Cup has never seen “so many good strikers at one time”, although the 1970 tournament of Pele, Teofilio Cubillas and Gerd Müller was pretty special. “We have a generation of outstanding strikers now, Neymar, Messi, Benzema, Van Persie, Robben, James Rodríguez, top players who really give everything,’’ said Houllier. “Great players make a difference like Messi against Bosnia, Neymar against Croatia.

“Rodríguez is the leading scorer with five goals and two assists. His [volley] goal for Colombia against Uruguay, with his position between the line and control, was one of the best goals of the tournament along with Tim Cahill [volley against Holland] or the goal scored by the Americans against Belgium [Julian Green’s volley]. These strikers are more protected than before with video and referees are probably better in terms of physical conditioning and game reading. There a lot of rules taken which encourage attacking football, changes on the tackle from behind, the last-defender rule.’’

Oliseh, a former defensive midfielder, elaborated. “You can’t do like you did in the past, just put a bulldog on a great player and hound him around,’’ said Oliseh. “You can’t do that now with referees – and players are smarter. You want to know one of the reasons why it’s difficult to play against Messi? When Argentina don’t have possession, Messi walks to the side, and the defensive player follows him, his team doesn’t have balance now and Ángel di María says, 'thank you’. Di María finished off a quick counter against Switzerland on Tuesday helped by Messi.

“We’ve not had a Roberto Carlos goal [à la Tournoi in ’97] when the ball that goes out and swings in,’’ continued Oliseh. “Most of the goals we’ve seen here have been combinations, like Argentina’s counter-attack, that is nothing to do with the ball. That is all about the talent of the player.’’

And fitness. Still as lean as in his playing pomp, the 39-year-old Oliseh said: “When you go to watch teams train it is not long, it is meticulous, so they don’t get problems with lactic acid because they do too much. The Germans are expert at what you eat and drink. Players are better prepared.’’

Houllier was impressed by the effort put in by the Americans and Belgians. “They gave everything,’’ said Houllier. “What surprised me in the World Cup is the physical commitment of all the teams. The tempo, the pace of the World Cup has never been faster. The level and intensity of the drama has never been so high. Five of the round of 16 games were not decided in normal time, a record [the first time since 1938].

“Nearly a quarter of the goals have been scored in the final 15 minutes. Subs play an important part: 29 goals have been scored by subs, a record. You normally have 10 per cent goals scored by subs.”

Houllier’s group is to lobby IFAB to permit a fourth substitute in extra time. “When you see the intensity of the game, and players with cramp, it is needed.

“It is also a World Cup with good goalkeepers, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belgium, and others [like the US]. Training of goalkeepers is the area that’s improved most over the last 20 years. When I started as a coach, I was doing also the training of the goalkeeper. Now you have a former goalkeeper and an expert in their development. One of the best goalkeeper coaches, who teaches a lot, is the one with Louis van Gaal, Frans Hoek, who makes everyone step forward.”

It is not just about the technical or tactical or the coaching. It is also about the desire within, an emotion seen in many of the players here from anthems to final whistles.

“I spoke with Teofilo Cubillas, a good friend of mine,’’ added Oliseh, “and he said if you’re a footballer and you don’t go to a World Cup it’s like going to a school without graduating. I got eliminated from the World Cup of ’94 and the painful thing is you have to wait four times Christmas.

“With total respect to your club, you are playing for your nation. It’s like going to war on behalf of 170 million people, a friendly war. It hurts so much to go out. That shows to the world that players love this game.

“When players are crying here that shows you how much they care. We saw the Algeria coach crying and he’s not even Algerian. It shows the love for football and the World Cup.’’